Rob Small's Masters Thesis: Uptake and the success of insect ...

By the 19 th century ideas about nature, whether as an economic resource that needed
conserving and exploiting, or as a precious reservoir of unchanged wilderness, were an
important element in colonial ideology, at both home and abroad (Adams & Mulligan,
2003). Initially in the United Kingdom and throughout the British Empire the conservation
arena was dominated by those of an aristocratic background driven to conserve nature due
to their concerns about the over exploitation of wildlife and the availability of animals for
big game hunting. These concerns and motivations crystallised in the formation of the
Society for the Protection of the Fauna of the Empire (SPFE) in 1903. The concerns of this
group were not only based on utilitarian principles but were also driven by the
romanticisation of nature. The society had, due to the influence of its membership, an
ability to lobby government and assisted with the “protectionist” agenda.
The central strategy that arose from this environmental concern was the creation of
reserves, particularly for forests, for example in the West Indies (eighteenth century), India
and the South African Cape (nineteenth century) (Adams & Hulme, 2001). The formation
of National parks at beginning of the 20 th century led on from the creation of these
reserves, and effected a realisation of the core principles behind the conservation
movement during this period. A shift in the idea of what nature was meant to be had
occurred, and a concept of retaining a natural wilderness came to the fore. The idea of
wilderness as somewhere yet to be industrialised or otherwise utilised by man was
beginning to recede. The concept of a ‘pristine nature’ to be conserved from the ravages of
man was defined. Motivations were driven by the principle of the stewardship, with
connotations of the separation of “civilised” man from nature.
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